Eliciting user preferences using image-based experience sampling and reflection

Determining requirements for any design project involves identifying and ranking user needs and preferences. User needs are typically elicited via personal or focus group interviews, site visits, and photographic and video analysis. Often, however, users know more than they say in a single or even several interviews 1. We propose a methodology for assisting a user who is interested in learning about his or her own preferences using a process we call image-based experience sampling and reflection. We describe the methodology using a storyboard example from the domain of architectural redesign of home environments.